outlanderfandomcom-20200223-history
Talk:Murtagh Fraser/TV/@comment-33855448-20171203220609
Why We Love Duncan Lacroix’s Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser and Where Do We Go From Here? As we wind down season three and begin to anticipate season four with high hopes of finally seeing Murtagh again, I want to take a moment to examine his character. He has been called the soul of the show, and not without just cause. To narrow it down to one or two words would grossly undermine the complexity Duncan Lacroix has wrought in delivering Murtagh to us. He has alchemized his character from the role of tin sidekick to one so valuable to the integrity of the story, we struggle with a sense of irreplaceable loss in his absence. Mr. Lacroix doesn’t even need lines to convey the powerful and endearing presence of his character. Outlander spoilers from this point on, read at your own risk... Murtagh may bill himself as a simple man, but he is anything but, save perhaps in his loyalties. His quiet intelligence is evident at almost every turn, from his shrewd assessment of Dougal’s motives, to his creative plans to find or rescue loved ones, to his clever work as a cryptographer in France, where he is the first to recognize that one of the codes is actually in the music itself. He is a poor soldier. Yet he is also an educated man who is fluent in three languages, one who was able to attract Ellen Mackenzie’s attention as a potential suitor, despite his lower social status. Admittedly anyone old enough to be Jamie’s godfather has been around the block a few times. However Murtagh’s depth of wisdom and perception in recognizing that someone will have to step into the dark with Jamie in order to save him after his gruesome, heartbreaking treatment at the hands of Blackjack Randall is quite striking. You have to profoundly understand what going over that perilous precipice entails in order to grasp how the raw trust involved can help weave a bridge back out of the abyss. Murtagh also shows impressively ego-less wisdom in not offering to be the one to do it. Much as he wants to save Jamie, he understands somehow that Claire is the only one who can do this. Murtagh’s honesty is something else we love about him. Not that he’s incapable of deceit as we see in his doings with Jamie and Claire in France, or in his secrecy with Claire to protect Jamie from the knowledge that Blackjack is still alive. But he doesn’t like it. And it is done out of his love and loyalty for Jamie. Like any good soldier, he knows when to tell the truth, when to lie, and when to keep his mouth shut. He doesn’t lie for his own gain the way Dougal does, and we respect him for it. One of his most endearing and defining traits is his straightforwardness. We see it again and again. But perhaps there’s no point it’s quite so characteristic as in the deleted Wedding Contract scene where Murtagh calls a spade a spade and Dougal accuses him of maligning his integrity. Murtagh, absolutely fearless, goes straight to the flank and in: “Oh no, that would require you to have some for me to insult.” One could envision that bluntness going over with some women like a lead balloon. He keeps those doors pretty much closed, if not sealed, and maybe his bluntness one of the reasons he doesn’t like to “involve himself in the affairs of women”. He disdains politics. Women can be rather political, and are not always pleased to be called out on it. We don’t discover the depths of the pain that truly led him to close those doors, however, until The Search. He is remarkably unprejudiced and open-minded for an eighteenth century soldier. He doesn’t automatically limit Claire because she is a woman. He stands up for her right from the beginning. “I’ll stake my best shirt, she’s no’ a whore,” he says, and that’s no lightweight wager from “a poor soldier wi’ no’ a home and no’ two sticks to rub together”. No matter how emotionally involved with her he becomes as their friendship develops, or how attracted to her he might be (and there is evidence that he is,) he judges her by her actions and words, same as he does anyone else. Neither does he make any excuses for her because she is woman, which is refreshing. He’s quick to dress her down for teasing Jamie about Laoghaire, and certainly is capable of getting very angry with her, as we see in The Search. While it’s the measure of trust and respect gradually developed between them that makes it possible for Murtagh to open up to her, it’s always with respect, even when he’s angry. He never denigrates her by mocking or stereotyping her. (Not that he isn’t capable of stereotyping – his wry “the only good weapon for a woman is poison” comes to mind, as does “You change your mind like a woman in flux”.) He teases her and Jenny about not needing his help when they go to track Jamie (“you two are a couple of natural outlaws”), after criticising them for not hiding their tracks better, but again it’s respectful. For a man who seems to have so little experience beyond “a frolic between the sheets”with women, he is surprisingly grounded in his masculinity. He tries to pass off the skinning and preparing of the rabbit to Claire and Jenny, but doesn’t fuss about doing it himself when they balk. (And again, Duncan Lacroix accomplishes this deftly and subtly, all without a word.) Murtagh could have made some snide comment about women’s work, the way, for example, Angus might have. He doesn’t hesitate to sort Jamie out for his naivete in assuming his godfather knows nothing about love. However it’s in his adorable gruff-yet-open way that doesn’t aim to posture or put down, merely to correct. Though Murtagh may have loved only once, he was evidently a quick study, even if he’s perhaps hiding from loving again because he can’t face the depths of his pain. He told Jamie that women generally don’t like sex. Perhaps in the book Murtagh doesn’t know how to please a woman, but in the series we get the sense he was most likely only cautioning Jamie not to expect too much from a woman forced into marriage. Indeed, as we see later, Suzette seems to be enjoying Murtagh just fine. This lends credence to suspicion that a man of his sensitivity and depth of emotion is probably better in bed than we are asked to believe. He does seem to develop a genuine fondness for Suzette, going so far as to ask Fergus if she loves anyone, and is annoyed and protective at the insulting reply. But we nonetheless get the sense it’s largely a matter of convenience: he’s probably lonely, especially since Jamie and Claire are so wrapped up in their own problems in France. Suzette is genuinely solicitous, (for example after the attack, though he brushes her away), which is not something he gets very often. He’s also a flesh and blood man who needs to get laid. But it’s pretty clear that while he enjoys the attentions and affection of Claire’s pretty, voluptuous maid, he doesn’t seriously entertain giving her his heart. Looking to the future... Is he really Jamie’s true father as some have suggested? To answer that, we would have to ask ourselves if he would have betrayed his best friend. And we immediately know the answer to that: no, of course he would not. It is categorically not in Murtagh’s nature. Had he trysted with Ellen before Jamie’s father began courting her... Yet it seems highly unlikely that Murtagh would bed a woman he loved without marrying her first. Unless he was far more reckless and markedly less honourable in his horny youth, (hmm, aren’t we all?), in which case his current sensitivity and respect for women could have developed painfully–from a heart-breaking mistake of that impetuous youth. We may never know. More likely, it’s just one of those theories we should set aside, and instead take Murtagh’s word that Ellen turned him down because he didn’t know how to show his soft side. Assuming he survives his indenture, (and surely they would not dare to be so cruel as to utterly break our hearts after letting him survive Culloden), who will help him heal? Duncan Lacroix has intimated that Murtagh will be a much colder person in Jamie’s absence. So it would theoretically be that much harder to break through those emotional barriers, if even possible. I would argue against his marrying Jocasta, as I’ve been widely hearing suggested, unless it’s the only way we get to keep him. Even if she’s Scottish, he doesn’t need to be reminded of Ellen, save for every time he looks at her son, nor does he deserve to have to take her sister as some sort of substitute who will constantly remind him of his loss. Plus, if she’s half as conniving and sly as her brothers, as would seem, I could not imagine her being a soul mate for Murtagh. And I think he needs one at this point. Most certainly he deserves one. When has he had a woman wish him good luck going into battle? Even Claire asks him to watch over Jamie, yet doesn’t hug him goodbye or tell him to be careful, or ask how he is after they return from Prestonpans. Of course he needs a strong, intelligent woman. We couldn’t imagine him being happy with anyone else. But an unscrupulous one? He cares nothing for status or political power. Maybe a First Nations woman who has at least as intimate a relationship with the wild as he does and can help him ground and connect to his heart again through the new land? Like so many soldiers, he is quiet, observant, and happiest in nature. He deserves someone who will meet and accept him wherever he happens to be after surviving his lengthy indenture, and who will kindle in him at a deep soul level a passion matching or exceeding in intensity what he felt for Ellen. I don’t think any of us who have grown to love him could bear to see him hurt more than he already has been–least of all in the hands of cold calculation. I’ve known a few soldiers who are among the hardest men on the planet. They might not appreciate me saying so, but they all have very soft hearts. We know Murtagh is no different. If he does have to marry Jocasta, I hold out hope that he will meet and get to know Brienne. She looks like Ellen, probably is similar to her in temperament, and I somehow imagine he would be as fiercely protective of her as he was of Jamie. She will be the grandchild he could never have, and she too, could help heal his poor old heart. We’ve come to trust Duncan Lacroix’s exceptional delivery so much that his Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser has really become the only one that matters. How many actors are so good they genuinely redefine the character and inspire writers and producers to drastically change the storyline to keep it alive? So please, can we have him back yet?